Unyielding souls
by quandoqueerthesuperhero
Summary: Supreme Commander Thresk'Talamee is exploring an anomaly picked up by a probe, what he finds could change the course of the covenant and the war with Humanity. Admiral Jaehart Irilan is leading an exploration event to find colonies for the Salarian Union. Till he finds a probe from an unknown species, what will happen now? Rated T for violence and graphic depictions of death.


**This story is a revamp of _Truth and Arrogance._ The reason why I'm making a new version of this is because I didn't like the direction that TAA was going in. Thresk'Talamee originally was a socially awkward but tactically sound elite, I wanted to keep it this way but it's very hard to write him into any conversation if his character is socially awkward at his core. So Thresk will no longer be awkward, and wont have a _human_ personality, he'll be a sangheili. I'll try to add more conversations in to keep people intrigued, and the chapters will hopefully be longer. One final note, the lore in this series will be more simple, I probably wont mention it but in Ancient halo history, There is no "Ancient Human Empire", no "Precursors", no "mantle", and no Forerunners being more evil than the Covenant. In terms of ancient history, there is only the flood, and the forerunners.**

 **Disclaimer: "Mass effect" and "Halo" belong to EA and Microsoft respectfully**

 **Anyway this is;**

 **Unyielding souls: Chapter One.**

 **December 14, 2551**

 **200 light years from Human Colony of _Draco III_ **

…

 _ _Supreme Commander, The most noble of concepts__

The newly appointed Supreme Commander, Thresk 'Talamee, sat aboard the pride and joy of the Covenant navy; a CAS Assault Carrier called the __Thoughts of Regret__ , as he pondered on that sentence. After only eight years in the Covenant, he was already beyond a high Zealot, and one of the most decorated Elites in the Hegemony. Most thought he was well deserving of the rank. During the battle of _Victoria,_ Human ships had destroyed the flagship of a Covenant Fleet during the space battle, Thresk took it upon himself to take control of the fleet, and managed to glass the planet within a matter of days; using complex pincer maneuvers and daring flank attacks.. Such tactical prowess is rarely seen in the Covenant, his higher ups were impressed and sought the need for him to command more fleets. During that three month battle he also met an Ultra by the name of Kiga 'Darramee, when Thresk saw Darramee fight and guide his troops on the battlefield, well let's just say that Thresk was greatly impressed. Darramee was excellent at leading ground forces into battle, in fact he did better than most of his superiors. Because of this Thresk rewarded Darramee. As the years and battles went by they both grew in rank. Now, obviously, Thresk was the highest rank he could get, and Darramee was a Field Marshal.

They both were good friends by this point, so they often showed insubordination at times that no one else would. This would go from hand gestures and head nods, to commenting on each others battle plans and maneuvers. However neither claimed to know more about the others profession in military tactics, they only gave suggestions.

Thresk walked onto the bridge, the crew had not yet noticed him, whatever they were doing it was too important to turn around and look at the Supreme Commander. He threw his purple cape over his shoulders, the magnetic locks clicked in and latched onto his Deep violet armor. He walked onto the bridge, steadily and carefully. He sat in his command chair, the grav lift under the chair activated, making Thresk's throne hover slightly. He looked out the observation window, his relatively small fleet was still in slip space, going to an unimportant system to check out an anomaly. Thresk was starting to trail off in his mind when Darramee walked onto the bridge, making his presence known.

Darramee was massive compared to most elites, he was 9'8, and almost five hundred pounds of muscle. He had his family's sword on his right leg, and wore the velvet armor of a Field Marshal. His voice was deep and penetrating, every time he spoke, the ship seemed to shake. His words were careful and precise, he knows what to say and when to say it. Perfect for a leader who has to convince troops to run into Hell itself

"It seems you've taken your throne." Darramee jokingly said to Thresk.

"At least I earned it, and didn't peddle off the back of a superior officer." Thresk wittingly replied

"touche" Darramee replied

Darramee got a serious look on his face, meaning all businesses now, no jokes. "Where are we going? I've checked the location of our destination, it's so far away from any human colony."

"I received a comm call from Imperial Admiral Wattinree, he ordered me to investigate an anomaly picked up by a probe." Thresk answered Darramee's question to the best of his ability.

"And what of the _Fleet of Fallen Fallacy_? Are you sure you want to go into this without your full force yet?"

The Fleet of Fallen Fallacy was A brand new fleet created in the factories of High Charity. It Consisted of over 150 ships. It's flagship was a massive CSO Supercarrier that was over 24 kilometers long, or 18 miles. The Supercarrier was called the _Bane of Ignorance_ , and housed thousands of crew members, the CSO class could glass a small planet on its own and hold an army, it also had factories inside its hull, these produce weapons, vehicles, and ammo. This massive grouping of ships was to be commanded by Thresk, the fleet would also grant Thresk three Fleetmasters. The one and only purpose of this fleet is to find the human home world and glass it, a Difficult task, as humanity was very stubborn, more stubborn than the elites, if it was the Jiralhanae or the San'Shyumm they would have broken long ago. The Fleet was bigger than the current battlegroup Thresk commanded; which consisted of a CAS assault carrier, 8 CCS Battlecruisers, 7 Destroyers, and eight corvettes. A grand total of Twenty-three ships.

"I told them that we would rally up with them once we regroup there." Thresk explained "I don't want any surprises, if it's a Human settlement, then a fleet will be necessary, if it's forerunner it will be the same situation with the fleet to protect it."

"Do you have any more information on this anomaly?" Darramee questioned.

"No, the only thing the Imperial Admiral told me was that the anomaly was of great importance and that I was the only one who was capable of dealing with it."

"So all he did was boost your ego?" Darramee Teasingly said.

Thresk only scoffed and continued looking out at the slipspace stream

Darramee continued his protest. "I thought we were searching for the human home world, not scurrying around on what might or might not be something of importance."

"Stop acting like you're in your adolescence, they wouldn't waste a brand new fleet on unconfirmed anomalies. I have a gut feeling that there is something here, just the way the Imperial Admiral talked it had a sense of…Intrigue." Thresk said.

"Intrigue or not I'd say it's a waste of resources, when we're so close to the Great Journey."

Thresk winced, he had heard " _The Great journey"_ so many times he hated it now, but there was another, more personal reason he hated it.

Thresk (in an attempt to get great journeys off his mind) turned to his communications Major, a grunt named Dabab.

Dabab was a small little creature, though he was mean in combat, he took on an entire squad of jackal pirates once, when Thresk's old ship got ambushed and boarded. Apparently he learned most of his skills with his brother named Stolt, they got separated once they were called to different fleets. Apparently Stolt was shipped off to work with the _Fleet of Particular Justice_ and is now serving under a spec ops commander.

"Dabab, tell the sensors wing to scan the system as soon as we exit slipspace, I do not want any surprises." Thresk ordered.

"Yes, Supreme Commander." Dabab replied in his squeaky voice.

Thresk got out of his command chair, and started to pace at his elevated position, the lights in the ships reflected off his shining purple armor, he spoke finally.

"We cannot have any distractions once we get into the system, we bolt towards the anomaly, and hope we do not get ambushed, this mission is of critical importance to the Covenant Hegemony. After our investigation is complete, we will regroup with the _Fleet of Fallen Fallacy_ , and continue our mission."

"Once we get into the system, we'll set up a wedge formation around the _Thoughts of Regret_ , The Battlecruisers will not join the formation, they will flank the mass on the left and right flanks." He Turned to Dabab. "Get on it Dabab."

"Yes Supreme Commander."

Thresk nodded and the Bridge crew returned to their normal duties, he once again sat in his command chair. To Thresk, it was always strange _giving_ the orders. When he initially entered the Covenant as a Major, he was always told to _follow_ orders instead of _give_ them, the Hegemony never taught how to use your leadership abilities to the fullest of their effect. At the time, it didn't really matter to Thresk, he only saw it as a "I'll learn it along the way" type thing, and he did eventually. It took him a while to learn that you have to relate to the ones who are under your command in order to make them believe in what they're fighting for. You can't just make _them_ feel like they are at home, but you have to make _yourself_ feel like your at home so that _you_ can believe in what you're doing. This took a long time for Thresk to realize, but when he did, he learned that he had maxed out his skill in the art of speech. And his speeches were glorious, give him five minutes to be all metaphoric with the Human leader, and he'd most likely convince him to join his side.

But alas, Thresk sat there, pondering, looking out towards the endless void, and thought out how he was going to deal with a situation that goes horribly wrong, as all leaders do.

…

 _I really need a drink right now_

Vice Admiral Jaehart Iralan of the Salarian navy thought to himself as he sat in his quarters going over reports about Dechone from various news outlets across the Galaxy. He was an average sized Salarian, gray skin, black eyes, the usual for his species. He also was a fast thinker, like most Salarians. Due to the Way Salarians live he was Twenty-eight, that may seem young, but most Salarians Rarely make it to forty. It was slow in terms of climbing the ranks, took him seven years of being an officer to get to this point, he was still wondering if it was worth it in the end.

The Salarian Union was expanding, Their growing population was becoming troublesome, and the Union needed more resources inside their borders. They assigned multiple Admirals to search in different clusters, the council had temporarily lifted the ban on activating dormant relays, of course this was exclusive to the Salarians. But what the Union also said was that any admiral above rear second half, would get a higher pay grade through the duration of the search. Admiral Jaehart was one of the first to volunteer for the expedition.

However, he was not expecting it to be so tedious. It was a long and boring process of "New planet. Scan, dead planet, move on." this got extremely annoying after the first fifteen dead planets were scanned. But Jaehart was patient, years of conditioning and warfare had taught him to be cautious and to wait for the perfect opportunity too strike his enemies, his patience paid off. One of his Scout ship groups reported that they found a system that had just the right conditions for an Eden world, so, he had found a habitable planet. The only unfortunate thing, in Jaehart's eyes, was that this was the _second_ habitable world to be found in Salarian space since the expedition started. An Admiral Zaestern Gazor, found the first one.

But it didn't bother Jaehart too much. He had found an Eden world, and was glad of it. The Union was already pouring resources into the settling of the planet. It had even been named, the planet was called " _Dechone_ " after a Salarian explorer in the pre-Council times, it had vast Rain forests and oceans, it was very humid, and was dotted with swamps, perfect for Salarians; they would know, as the planet already had a population of thirty million..

Dechone was being heavily defended, the Salarians had already claimed the planet and called it a colony. With such a large population, they needed to keep a strong defense, so they'd also set up a defense fleet commanded by Admiral Jaehart. It was a Fleet of over 75 ships, with two, brand new, Salarian dreadnoughts and dozens of smaller ships like Cruisers, Destroyers, and Frigates. All the fleet really did was patrol the system, and they never saw action. Occasionally a group of scientists would need to be escorted to the dormant relay that resided in the system for studying purposes.

A voice came out from behind Jaehart and startled him

"You know, there are a lot more worse things than patrolling a combat dead system." The voice of professor Alann Nuyore, the senior scientist on Jaehart's ship, sounded after the door opened.

He continued "Christ Iralan, you have to learn that not everything is about combat."

"And you have to learn how to knock when the sign on the door says 'Please Do Not Disturb'" Jaehart had a 'pissed off' tone in his voice.

"Cool yourself, besides you could use a distraction."

"Normally your 'distractions' lead to trouble, I do not want to be court marshaled during one of the most ambitious undertakings in Salarian history." Jaehart quickly retorted.

"Not like that Iralan jeez; when's your next patrol?" Alann asked.

"In three rotations, why?"

"Because I got a bottle of Serrice Brandy, and im willing to share it." Alann offered.

Jaehart suddenly was in a better mood "Thank Christ Alann, you truly are a life saver." Jaehart Happily said.

After a few minutes of talking Jaehart got out of his chair in his quarters and quickly left the room. Alann chuckled to himself and left the room as well, going to the science wing of the massive ship to continue his duties. The ship was a Salarian dreadnought, and the Flagship of the newly established " _Dechone defense fleet_ ", it was almost a kilometer long, and was cutting edge technology. The massive ship was outfitted with a stealth system, so dreadnoughts could be used as staging areas for STG Battalions and regiments, without being detected on radar. The ships weapons are also impressive, With Thanix cannons, Mass accelerators, Ultra-modern point defense systems, and strong kinetic barriers, the ship alone could destroy a small fleet.

Another plus about the ship is that it was very luxurious. The crew would be gone for long periods of time, and would be sitting in chairs for hours on end. So as an added bonus, the engineers designing the ship, made sure to make the cushions on the seats extra-comfortable for long periods of time sitting on their ass. Jaehart also, appreciated this, as his command chair was excellently comfy.

Once the Admiral walked into the room a bridge officer called out: "Officer on Deck."

All of the crew stood up and saluted. Jaehart nodded and said:

"At ease sailors."

They all sat down in their seats, going back to their duties. Jaehart took hos command chair and started to read through reports.

 _Fleet systems: Green_

 _Ships systems: Green_

 _Fleet communications: Green_

 _Joint Command Station: Green_

 _Fleet stance: Passive_

 _Enemy activity: None_

 _Anomalies: One_

 _Ship Shields-_

 _wait, an anomaly?_

Jaehart did the Salarian equivalent of raising his eyebrow. The reason so many science teams were being escorted was due to anomalies in the system, of which he was told, were all dealt with three months ago. Jaehart thought for a second.; this could be just another mineral deposit, or even false alarm. But the fact that they didn't catch it during when they were actually hunting for anomalies is strange, the anomaly was is the Oort cloud where most of the scientist were working, it was also near the relay, about five light minutes from the relay itself.

 _This is strange._

Jaehart decided to send a Frigate to scope it out.

"Tufo, select a Frigate that is not preoccupied, tell them to go scout an anomaly in the Oort cloud." Jaehart ordered to his communications officer.

"Yes sir!" Tufo said with excitement, he was young, and had only graduated from his military academy four months prior to now. His youth made him over-enthusiastic at times, he had never seen the horrors of war and suffering like Jaehart had in his many years of service.

"How about the… _Lanius_ , the Corvette is not currently active, Sir!" Tufo said, again with great exasperation.

"That will do, tell them to immediately regroup with the fleet if they see trouble"

"Yes sir!"

Jaehart turned his attention to a vid series that he found a few days prior, he had been watching it to pass time, seemed to enjoy it.

 _After four hours_

"Sir! The recovery team found something, they are bringing it to the planet's surface, Sir!" Tufo's voice startled Jaehart.

"Tell them to take the object to the capital, _Unvania_ , in the STG base near there."

"Yes Sir!"

An unknown, not pirates or mercs, whatever the Corvette sent to the fleet was rather vague, so this must've been rushed out. Jaehart's organs started to throb from nervousness as he heard the distance from planet reports that his radar operators were relaying to him. He had hoped that this unknown was of ancient construction, maybe even Prothean or earlier. But the sense of worry and nervousness was something Jaehart hadn't experienced in a long time, and it stressed him out.

" The Frigate is preparing to enter Dechone's atmosphere, ETA till landing, 6 minutes."

A radar operator chimed.

"Tufo, get my shuttle ready." Jaehart ordered.

"Yes sir! Sending your escorts and pilot to the shuttle now."

Jaehart left the bridge with haste, thinking about what was going to happen. Once he was in the hangar, he saw his team was already preped, even Alann, who wouldn't miss this event for the galaxy.

 _After re-entry_

Jaehart looked out at the planet's capital, some the capital was beans new, the buildings were still being constructed, and were barely taller than the top of the rain forest. The soon-to-be city was massive, and already held a large population. Most buildings were already completed, some still needed to be finished.

"If someone told me this was a part of Sur'Kesh, I'd believe them." Alann suddenly said

"I know, definitely does remind me of home." Jaehart responded.

Before they could continue the conversation the pilot relayed to Jaehart.

"Fifteen seconds to LZ."

Jaehart sighed and got up, still looking out the window of the shuttle very intensively.

As the shuttle landed he could see multiple STG operatives struggling to pull an object into the inner part of the STG base. He correctly assumed it was the object that the Corvette had picked up. Luckily it didn't seem to be causing any damage.

"What in the hell are you guys doing?!" Jaehart said with a tone of annoyance.

A lieutenant walked up to him and said:

"Sir we need to bring this inside to prevent any leaks from getting to the publ-"

He was cut off.

"I don't give a damn about leaks, even if it goes against protocol! Now put this damn thing down and have Alann study it."

"Yes sir." the lieutenant begrudgingly said.

The object dropped on the ground, the STG operatives who were previously carrying the object took the tarp off of it and threw it aside. The object was purple, it had curves and edges that made it seem majestic. It had a pole that shot out of the top and on the top of the pole was half of a sphere which was also purple.

"Wow, you look, interesting. Let me climb on to you and study." Alann was either speaking to himself to get more comfortable with the object, or actually trying converse with the alien object.

Alann hoped onto the object, pulled out his omni tool, and started to look through various charts and data analytics. He proceeded to put his hand in various crevasses and cracks, he then started to press buttons on what was assumed to be the center console.

"This thing is small, it's not meant for combat, I'd assume that this is probably a probe, the Frigates crew managed to disable it. And it…" Alann trailed off for a second.

Alann seemed to have cracked into the specs of the probe

"Oh my stars" Alann had a shocked look on his face.

The admiral got concerned.

"Alann what is it."

Alann snapped out of his trance.

"Iralan, this has powerful engines, an advanced radar system, and…cloaking abilities, it can hide itself from heat signatures _and_ visible detection. With all this it must have eezo right?"

"Absolutely, with all that tech it must use eezo." Jaehart reasoned.

"Well Admiral, there is not a trace of eezo anywhere in this probe, shit it's a miracle we found this thing at all!" Alann started to hype up the STG operatives.

 _No eezo, how?_

"Jesus, this has to be researched, the tech on this ship alone could send us ahead by years!" Alann was getting a little too excited.

"We need to be sure that this wont be the end of us, last thing I want is technologically advanced species pissed off at us for taking their and using their technology against them, I doubt this is a one of a kind thing.."

"Iralan, do you not understand? This is important stuff. That tangent of information I just gave you, was only the data I found on the surface. That's like dipping your foot in what you believe is a pond, but is really an ocean! We have to bring this back to Sur'kesh, the things we can learn from it!"

Alann had a point, but Jaehart looped back too what the STG lieutenant said earlier about leaks.

"I'm sorry Alann, but it's not happening. We have to be careful with this or we could end up regretting our decisions. So no, we're keeping it here, and hiding it." Jaehart explained.

"Being conservative about this is going to end up with trouble, what if this _species_ was using the probe to plot an invasion, and their going to invade anyway"

"No Alann." Jaehart interrupted.

Alann looked around, eyeing the operatives, he noticed that they did not protest.

"Damn you all! Fine, we'll keep it here." Alann grudgingly accepted.

"I'm glad you understand." Jaehart said in a softer tone.

The admiral looked towards his escorts and his pilot.

"Prep the shuttle, take me back to the ship." He turned to his communications expert. "Tell Tufo to send a report to Union High Command." The pale skinned Salarian nodded.

Jaehart continued. "Alann, stay here, study the probe. And do not get yourself into trouble."

"Yeah, whatever." Alann mumbled.

Jaehart and his escorts (save for Alann) walked onto the shuttle. The doors closed with a hiss. He could hear the low hum of the engine starting, and the added weight of his own body as it lifted off the ground and flew off the planet, in the direction of the fleet. He heard the beeping of the radio that the comms escort was holding, there was talking coming from a Salarian, but the radio was too quiet and the Salarian on the other end was talking too frantically. But the comms escort seemed to be shocked by whatever he was saying. Jaehart could practically feel the anxiety coming off the pale skinned Salarian.

"What is it?" Jaehart asked.

"Fifteen unknowns just jumped in the system, they annihilated a science team and it's military escorts." His voice was shaky, and fear could be read on his face.

Jaehart was struck with many different emotions and thoughts. But the only thing that he could say came out: "Oh shit."

…

"Enemy ships have been destroyed Supreme Commander, However, I detect dozens more readings similar to those ships we just engaged." Dabab said.

"By the gods, with this many ships, this location must be important." Darramee exclaimed.

"Sir, before they were destroyed I managed to tap into some data banks on the ships, this thing, called a _Codex_ , it's information on not just this species, but a whole community of species that span the entire galaxy!" A sangheili tech operator excitingly said.

"What kind of idiotic species keeps tabs on information about themselves, its almost as if they want genocide." Darramee said.

"Thanks for the information" Thresk said to the tech operator

"We need to set up a defensive position..." Thresk's Eyes started to bolt around, looking at possible defensive locations, he saw one, of course. "That asteroid field will do, tell all of the Cruisers and Destroyers to set up Horizontal line of ships in this defensive position." Thresk typed coordinates and sent them to Dabab. "Tell the Frigates to Remain with the _Thoughts of Regret._ "

Dabab started to type on his console and Relay orders to the other ships. The ships that Thresk had referred to started to move towards the asteroid field, engines blasting at incredible speeds. They all set up around asteroids, readying weapons systems and powering up shields. They organized into the line Thresk created, the _Thoughts of Regret_ pulled in a few Hundred Kilometers away from the back of the line. The systems star reflected off of the elegant violet hull of the Covenant ships.

"Also Dabab, send communications to the entire Fleet to join me in the Planning room." Thresk ordered.

"Understood, Supreme Commander." Dabab began to Relay Thresk's orders to the rest of the fleet.

The CAS Assault Carrier was rather large, so it took him some time to get there, but once he arrived the Shipmasters from every ship in the Fleet were there.

"Any updates?" Thresk asked as he walked over to the group surrounding the holotable.

Shipmaster Goramee of the CCS Battlecruiser _Protruding Zealous,_ spoke up.

"The Enemy ships have Organized into Three separate groups, This is likely a three wave attack, I suggest we counter them on the assumption of that."

"Wave attacks are so overrated in my opinion, I hope they realize that they are giving their enemy time to breath." Thresk annoying said

"Anyways, I hope our defensive positions will prove strong enough to hold them off."

"Even if we have the best defensive positions, we'll still be overrun. They have 75 ships, we have 23." Darramee paused, and took his attention away from the holo map in front of him, and turned his head towards Thresk.

"How a bout mines? Talamee." Darramee suggested.

"You know my opinion on such things, we cannot"

"We have no choice Thresk; you'll lose your title and all your men will die. Remember, we are dealing with an unknown enemy." Darramee laughed.

Talamee woefully pinched the space between his lower mandibles. He did not like to take the 'Cowards way out'; using bombs to dispose of an enemy seems like a desperate measure, and Thresk never wanted to be in desperate situations. But he also wanted a clean reputation, if he sat here, with the disease of indecision plaguing his mind, than he would lose a lot of men and this operation would forever be seen as a joke. However taking the 'Cowards' way out and abandoning Sangheili honor-bound tradition would be prove contradictory things about him and his past. So Thresk acted quickly, as he always does with his quick thinking mindset. He decided.

"Tell the Ships to start laying mines, The _Thoughts of Regret_ and her escorts will shut down all power systems in their ships, only keep backup life support systems on." Thresk Explained.

"Okay Talamee now you're just being unreasonable, throwing your ship into the fray then turning off all systems too-" Darramee's face filled with realization. "You're laying a trap."

Thresk Nodded, then started to circle around the holotable. He raised his gray, slender finger and pointed at a position a few dozen kilometers away from the defense position and mine field. His finger seemed to direct the rooms eyes to a spot behind a very large asteroid.

Thresk thought of his orders still pointing "I want to move the _Thoughts of regret_ and two CCS class cruisers along with our escorts behind this rock. I want Phantoms to load jammers inside their bays, and follow the ships, this will shield us from Radar detection. Normally we'd use cloaks too but we are lacking, they're too far away so it does not matter."

"What do we do when we get behind the rocks?" an elite shipmaster questioned.

"We shut down all systems, Including Gravity, only keep backup life support. With the jammers still on. As Goramee pointed out earlier, they are deploying their force in waves. This gives us breathing room. I'm thinking a three phase attack."

Thresk drew his attention away from the holotable. He looked up and was relieved to see agreement on their faces, the last thing he needed was infighting during a first contact battle.

Thresk continued

"Phase one:..." He thought for a second.

"Phase one will be the mine detonation, seeing that the enemy forces' first column is the largest, lets hope they receive the most damage. Any stragglers will be picked off by Corvettes and bombers" Thresk said

"Phase two:.." He continued

"This will be the most demanding phase, and the most risky" Thresk pondered for a second.

"The defensive line will have to dish out as much of the enemy fleet as possible, make them feel like they are winning, our defensive fleet will not be using primary weapons, only Plasma batteries and Plasma Torpedoes. My battle group will come in from behind and start hitting them in the back; that's when the defense group will push forward with full force and use their lances to full effect, we will do the same. After all lances have been fired and their barrels smoldering. We launch a wave of plasma torpedoes at once, the entire fleet will fire, no matter how big the enemy force. The Corvettes and Bombers will pick off stragglers as usual. End of phase two."

Darramee spoke up "I like it but they – No doubt – have reinforcements"

Thresk led into his next plan "And that's when Phase Three comes in."

He started to pace around the holotable again

"Once the Enemy ships have been annihilated, we regroup and launch a short range slip space jump as one fleet. The defense group and my group will rejoin and annihilate any remaining forces. Hopefully we do so much damage that will buy us time to wait for the _Fleet of Fallen Fallacy._ Then we invade the planet. Is this good with everyone in this room?" Thresk finished and asked

They all nodded or said yes.

"Good, Variables may change due to casualties, surprise attacks, or natural occurrences. If that happens we are more than prepared to deal with the new change. But if everything goes good, this is our plan. You are all excused."

The multiple holograms and physical people either left or de-hologrammed. Thresk Walked down to the bridge, quickly noticing the rush, Dabab had heard the conversation and sent communications throughout the fleet in case any of the Shipmasters failed to mention orders. Everyone was eager to work. The sight was beautiful to Thresk, seeing everyone working in conjunction was a rather entertaining thing, and it humbled him slightly to know that tens of thousands of souls were willing to die for him. He strolled over to his floating command chair.

"Dabab, are the mines planted?" Thresk asked the grunt.

"Mine 15 of cruiser _Prophets Delight_ has five minutes before armed."

"Good enough, tell everyone in my battle group to rally" Dabab nodded "And Dabab" he turned his head back to Thresk. "Ready the microphones and Cameras."

Dabab had a glimmer of excitement in his eyes "Oooo, a speech to boost morale!"

….

Jaehart was stunned about this whole situation, with going over the plan with his subordinates, and preparing to launch an attack on a numerically inferior force, some of the unknown ships had just, disappeared. He knew what was probably going to happen, he would be hit from the side. Jaehart did not know what to do. He would be hit from the side and lose a lot of ships. He had not considered such a thing, as no-one in council space had the technology to cloak a ship of that size, but then again, this was _not_ a council species. He could not go back to the CIC, his fleet was committed. With the situation that he was in, he really had no choice but to think quick.

"Tufo, tell Scorpio Company of the fifth flotilla to pull all of their 10 ships." Jaehart ordered

Throwing more ships into the fray, this was not very typical of him, he was always cautious and reserved. But he was forced to, the ships already beginning to start their main engines to bolt towards the asteroid field. Scorpio company seemed to have received the orders from the all _too_ excited Tufo. They pulled into position at the end of the column and readied their systems to sync with the rest of the fleet. His plan was set and ready, it was go time. He pressed a few buttons on the arm of his command chair, issuing the order to advance at full speed.

….

Thresk walked out into the hangar bay, looking out onto the crowd, they roared as he took his place on the podium, this message was to be Relayed to the entire fleet.

The cameras were in place, he was standing on the shiny purple podium, he knew that what he said would make or break this battle today. He thought of his words, organizing and reorganizing as he did in battle with his ships.

"On the day that the Covenant Dies, the day our beliefs crumble and the Hegemony fractures, we will be long gone, we will have perished from the Universe; whether it be in battle, in sickness, or in age, we will be gone. But there is one thing that we have that they don't, the blessing of our prophets, and the promise of a Journey. A journey that will send us into the plains of Etherium. This journey is a path that is wrought with destruction and the death of many, but our ascendance into Divinehood is the prize that awaits. But if that day fails to come, we must be the ones to continue that Journey. When that day comes, we will not reap the rewards and spoils of cleansing, we will not seek satisfaction, we will gain honor, an honor that will be remembered for eons, what we do here today will decide the Future of this slimy, Heretical race. I hope you all have the sense that I do. When we joined our Holy Crusade, we swore to destroy any who defied the Prophets, who denied this Journey we must partake in, those who have sought to destroy everything we have built in our thousand year long history. Well we _Did not_ let them win! And we Will not let these newcomers win either!" A roar was heard among the crowd, all the Elites Ignited their swords, thrusting them in the air. Plasma Bolts were also seen flying towards the hangar ceiling. Grunts were seen fist pumping, some grunts were Riding on the shoulders of Sangheili and Jiralhanae. Thresk raised his hand in an effort to silence them.

"Today, we Defeat another Enemy of the Prophets! Another Denier of the Great Journey! We Will Continue This Crusade against All who seek To Destroy us, Break us Apart! But they Will not succeed, for we are United, We are Blood, We are Family! For The Great Journey!" Another roar was heard as Thresk finished the last few words of his speech.

Darramee left his position at his side and came to Thresk's ear.

"The Enemy Fleet is advancing, Due to their trajectory and speed they will likely arrive in less than twenty minutes." The large elite said.

"Tell the ships to initiate phase one once half of the enemy ships are fifty kilometers from the forward most Cruiser." Thresk ordered.

"I'll inform Dabab." With that he ran off, towards the bridge no doubt.

Thresk turned his head towards the crowd, they were dispersing and rushing towards their battle stations still cheering. Thresk slowly walked towards the bridge, hoping that all his years of work would not be torn down In this battle.

….

The First wave of the Salarian fleet was now split up in Three columns that were parallel to each other, all moving at the same speed. Once the Enemy ships were in range, Jaehart ordered the First of each column to fire a volley, then those first ships would move to the left. Then the second of each column would fire a volley and they would move the left and vice versa. This would repeat to keep a constant barrage of fire. Eventually once all the ships in every column had fired, the three columns should now resemble one, horizontal wall of ships, and they would fire three volleys before getting to close range, all of this would start at a distance of 500 kilometers, so that they could continue advancing forward at max speed. Due to mass accelerators and how they gain speed the longer they go, it was an advantage to the Salarians. This was taking a toll on the Covenant ships, while their hulls had suffered no damage, their shields were taking a toll, and Thresk ordered the initiation of Phase one once the Salarian fleet was 50 kilometers away from the farthest out cruiser. The most reassuring part of this formation for the Covenant ships was the fact that the Salarian formation was perfect for the way the Covenant laid the mines. With the ships in a horizontal column like that the mines should cover most of Salarian fleet.

 _200 kilometers_

The White Salarian ships advanced, now in their horizontal column and started firing off volleys, these volleys were very damaging, so damaging that one of the Destroyers lost it's shields and started to be pelted with holes. While the Salarian ships were far less advanced than the Covenant ships, the sheer amount of fire coming from the Salarian ships was almost too much.

 _150 kilometers_

The Fire from the Salarian ships was still coming, Jaehart did not anticipate the strength of the enemy shields. So he ordered the continued fire of volleys. Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight; they just kept. On. Coming. The Covenant Destroyer that had lost it's shields at 200 kilometers was starting to take worrying damage. Another Cruiser had also lost it's shields, it too being berated by the fires of hell. Most of the ships and cruiser shields in the fleet were strikingly low, this was going to become their grave if they did not act soon.

 _100 kilometers_

The Destroyer was now in critical condition too much more fire and the ship would be completely mangled. Some of the Cruisers lost their shields, and were also taking a lot of damage to their forward. The situation was beginning to look more dire with every shot fired. However the Salarian ships were beginning to overheat their weapons, so they accelerated, hoping to reach the Covenant ships before they blew themselves up. They were so close to the kill zone they could touch it, so, _so,_ close.

 _65 kilometers_

No ship in the Covenant fleet had working shields, they were also taking some degree of damage to their hull. The Salarian ships were still so close. Their weapons had reached critical heat levels and their speed was still accelerating. If they could get closer to the Covenant ships then they could launch their missiles and finish them off. Saving Dechone. Just, a little closer-

suddenly and violently, the mines went off, blinding lights covered the void that seemed to outshine the Star. All Fifteen Mines went off, because of the speed of the Salarian ships and the ferocity and suddenness of the explosions, what remained of the Salarian ships flew off in chunks at the same incredible speed in which they were going before the mines detonated, now they were spiraling, fires emitting from them, narrowly missing the covenant ships. Jaehart's ship split in two and was thrust towards A large asteroid.

"Brace For Impact!" Jaehart screamed as his ship hurled towards the large black rock. The Impact made the ship shudder violently as the large rock tore through the hull sending chunks of metal plates into space, the hole left by the impact of the asteroid sent people and cargo alike into the airless void.

Once the blinding lights dissipated, hardly anything remained, only small pieces of once large ships and the few that were repulsed and slowed by the surrounding asteroids. What was once Thirty-five ships was now dust and echoes.

The second wave of ships was 3000 kilometers out and closing, not slowing despite the destruction of the first wave. Immediately the Covenant ships started powering up weapons systems and exterior shields, still not moving. Thresk's battle group was already prepping for their push into the side of the second wave of attackers.

In the meantime, Jaehart was regaining consciousness. It seems that the shipboard VI had sealed the bridge and managed to maintain life support and gravity on the bridge. The battered Admiral struggled to get up, heavily relying on a nearby command console to lift himself up. Once his head was raised he focused and looked around the room...and he wished he hadn't.

Bodies were everywhere in every position one could imagine, sprawled out, crunched up, on top of each other, separated from each other. One thing was clear to Jaehart, most were dead. He limped over to Tufo's former station, and found the young Salarian sprawled out face down, head looking towards the command chair, there was blood all over the boy's face, and he was undoubtedly dead. He limped passed the dead comms operator and made his way towards the bridge escape pods, he left his ship, the only survivor.

Meanwhile the Second wave of the Salarian fleet was fast approaching, They didn't follow the first wave's strategy, they simply organized a wedge formation, waiting to get close to Kill the Covenant ships. They Saw the destruction done to the first wave, but they couldn't stop now, they were set to stop this unknown species and save Dechone; besides, Admiral Jaehart did say to not retreat under any circumstances. The Covenant Fleet didn't move, waiting for their pray to fall in their trap, they started up their engines but did not ignite them once the Salarian ships broke 300 kilometers.

After 10 minutes of closing the distance between them and the Covenant, they were finally within 35 kilometers of the unknown fleet. the Salarian fleet stopped cold, facing down the Covenant ships, the Salarians had 20, the covenant had 13, after what seemed like an eternity, the first shots were fired, the Salarians Launched a violent wave of mass accelerator slugs at the covenant ships, it was not very effective. The slugs simply bounced off the better shields of the Covenant Cruisers and Destroyers, the exterior shields were meant to take punishment like this. After two minutes of pelting from the Salarian ships, Nothing seemed to happen, the Covenant ships were practically untouched compared to the damage done by the first wave, It's almost as if the entirety of the Salarian fleet said "Oh shit".

Thresk's Battle group re-activated all of their systems and bolted towards the back of the enemy fleet, the ships who were facing down the Salarian fleet also advanced till they were right on top of them. Then, all hell broke loose. The Covenant cruisers fired their plasma lances, cutting and penetrating the Salarian ships, They exploded violently, the cruisers doing the most damage with their five different plasma lances. The Salarian ships could do little but try to run, the few that were remaining attempted to retreat back towards Dechone, only to find a Three mile long Assault Carrier, three cruisers, and eight Corvettes blocking their way, of the twenty ships the second wave had, only eight remained. The Covenant Cruisers backed off, surprising the Salarians, the again, attempted to retreat, but before they could, they saw bright, flare like lights shooting out of the sides of every ship in the Covenant fleet, it took a moment for the Salarians to realize that those bright lights were actually missiles. Panic ensued once realization set in, they ran for escape pods, shuttles, gunships, anything that they could use to escape, the missiles drew closer, and closer. Until finally…

The Missiles made contact with the Salarian ships, the impact and sheer amount of missiles was overwhelming. The Salarian ships' mass effect cores detonated, killing everything that did not escape. Banshee's were deployed to pick off shuttles and escape pods, phase two of Thresk's plan was completed. Time for phase three.

Thresk and his Fleet Re-organized, and began repairing damaged systems as reloading weapons. Once this Precheck-esque phase was completed, Thresk ordered a short ranged slip space jump right on top of the remaining Salarian ships around Dechone, hoping to turn an already Covenant Victory into a Crushing Defeat for the Salarians. His ships Entered the Fifth Dimension, blasting through several million kilometers of space. They exited slip space, right behind the unprepared and now, Salarian defenders. The Salarians were so panicked that they couldn't turn around fast enough to respond to the sudden appearance of the Covenant ships. The Covenant ships once again thrust forward and used the powerful plasma lances to their advantage. They repeated what they did with the second phase, except this time they finished off the entire Salarian defense force in a matter of minutes. The Battle for the system was won, for now.

….

Thresk Watched out on the endless void, happy that victory came, but worried about the response from these so called 'Salarians'. Dabab had informed Thresk about a transmission the grunt had intercepted, the Salarians sent out a distress signal asking Union command for "A Really large number of ships" and a very large number they would send. He was ready, and would await their arrival with great anticipation. Though now, he had time to breath. And that dammed voice came back

 _Please little one, remember,_

 _I will always love you…_

END OF CHAPTER 1

 **Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed, been kind of on and off with this, but now I'm invested.** **Chapter 2 is already being written and I am really liking how it's turning out.**


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